Chapter 23

As expected, Dennis did not return for a long time.

'He should have come by now,' – Esther thought, leaning against the wall. 'It's been about two hours since Dennis left.'

The thought that she had been abandoned haunted the girl, but she silently continued to wait in the same place where she was left.

From afar, Esther saw a group of men prowling here and there. At first glance, it was a group of scoundrels who annoyed people.

'Looks like I got dressed wrong.'

When the girl left the room, Dorothy put a beautiful dress on her.

The men walked down the street, talking to themselves, and then approached Esther.

– Little girl, are you lost? – Crossing his arms over his chest, the man who seemed to be the main one among them asked.

Esther looked at them with an indifferent look:

– No.

– Look at her clothes, the little girl looks like a jewel… We'll take you home.

'It looks like they want to take me away to get coins from a lost aristocrat...' – Esther continued to stand leaning against the wall and looking from one to the other, silent.

– Hey, baby, why are you silent? – The thinnest man in the crowd tried to touch Esther.

The gang leader got scared and stopped this man:

– Don't touch her. Do you know which house she's from?

– Why? Here you just need not to touch the Grand Duke's children.

– Exactly. And there are only twin sons in his house.

Listening to their conversation, Esther imagined what she would look like if she said she was the daughter of a Grand Duke.

– Honey, we're not bad people. We just want to take you home, – the man spoke to the girl again, and after that, put his hand on her shoulder.

Astounded by this, Esther threw his hand off her shoulder:

– Don't touch me.

Memories of abuse made anyone extremely sensitive to other people's touch.

Esther's angry look made even the villains confused.

– Hey, calm down, we won't hurt you. We're just going to take you to a safe place, okay? Where do you live?

Esther was bothered by men who didn't seem to be going to leave her alone.

'As long as I'm the prey, they definitely won't let me go easily.'

People passed by them without even trying to offer the girl help.

'It looks like no one will help me.

Well, it can't be helped,' – sighing, Esther pulled out of her pocket a small dagger that she carried with her. It was a small but very sharp dagger.

– Do you see this? – the offenders laughed at the dagger that the girl was holding in her hands.

– Are you going to use it agai… Hey! What are you doing?!

However, the sharpened blade of the dagger aimed not at the men, but at Esther.

– If you keep coming at me, I'm going to hit you.

– Don't. Why are you like this? Shouldn't you cherish your body? Put it away, huh? – but the men who were blackmailed in cold blood, on the contrary, began to sweat, unable to do anything.

No matter how wild they were, they were commoners and would have given up their lives, even for a small scratch on an aristocrat's body.

– Do you think I'm lying? – Esther asked with a straight face and ran the sharp blade across the back of her hand. Even though she only held the tip, a streak of blood immediately formed on her skin.

– Hey!! Don't do this!

– Aren't you going to take the dagger? – Esther looked down at her hand, blood still dripping from the wound.

'The wound will heal soon.'

– Or maybe you'll kill me? – seeing the blood, all thoughts disappeared from the girl's head.

'I've never thought about such a death, but in the end, I still want to die.'

– Here. The dagger.

However, the villains, seeing Esther, who decided to die, cursing, began to retreat:

– What kind of child says that?

– I can't. Let's just leave!

After exchanging glances, the men, pushing each other and not looking back, left. Because of the noise that had risen, those who were passing by huddled in heaps and watched. People didn't try to help, they just watched.

'It's the same everywhere,' – Esther recalled the priests who always watched silently, not trying to help. The girl's chest became stuffy, and she took a deep breath:

– Is this a chance? Esther looked down at her wounded palm, thinking.

Esther left the temple to die, she was never afraid of death. The girl could have done anything to die.

However, for the first time she hesitated, thinking that this moment was near.

Duke Dehsin's face and Judy's, one by one, surfaced in Esther's mind. Because of the warmth they gave her in just a few days… that's what the girl thought.

'If the dagger was in their hands, everything would be over.'

– What should I do?

'Have I already become attached to them?'

Esther, whose heart was confused, looked up at the sky. Dennis still didn't come.

*****

The gang of scoundrels who escaped from Esther went to the nearest alley, where they were already waiting.

It was there, with an angry expression on his face, that Dennis was standing.

– Hey, Sir, you saw that, didn't you?

– There was nothing we could do!

In fact, these people weren't scoundrels. It was a routine job that they had done for Dennis.

– I said she shouldn't get hurt, however, there's a wound on her arm! – that's why Dennis was angry.

The boy came up with this just to see how Esther would behave, but the fact that she was hurting herself turned out to be terribly shocking for him.

– This is not the kind of child you can deal with!

– We were confused and scared.

– Sir, the color of your eyes…

Dennis green eyes, which had always been calm, were now filled with anger.

There was no trace of his usual appearance of a refined scientist, and even adults trembled from his gaze.

– We'll go…

– If there are any more tasks, do not hesitate to call us!

The gang, sensing the strangeness and frightened by the sparks of anger, quickly fled.

Dennis did not detain them, but thought deeply.

Esther's recent behavior was far from what the boy could understand.

'Why? Why did she do that?

It's too much, even for an adult.

No matter how much you want to get away from the villains, no one will take out a dagger to harm themselves or offer to kill themselves.

Except, Esther's gaze didn't shake at all…

She looked sincere,' –Dennis was disappointed that the girl was not afraid of death, and was angry at the way she treated her body.

Trying to calm down, the boy returned to the busy street where Esther was waiting for him.

Esther, recognizing Dennis from a distance, waved to him:

– Mr. Dennis.

– Nothing happened? – Dennis asked, seeing that the girl was not complaining and behaved as if nothing had happened.

– No, everything was calm.

'What happened doesn't really matter,' – Dennis sighed. Despite the fact that it was his idea, after it, he could not come to his senses.

– I saw what happened.

– Did you see that? – only at this moment, confusion was reflected on Esther's face. It seemed that the girl was making excuses, even though she had done nothing wrong. – But they left almost immediately. Therefore, it doesn't really matter.

– I hired them.

– Yes? What for?

– I wanted to see how you would behave.

Esther was speechless for a moment and looked at Dennis in amazement. However, she nodded almost immediately, showing that she understood.

But Dennis didn't understand the girl who accepted even that. He couldn't figure out what kind of character she had.

–Why do you carry a dagger with you?

– For self-defense.

–What would you do if they really attacked you?

– This… – Esther froze.

Dennis seemed angry when he heard that the girl wanted to die.

– Isn't your body precious? – the boy's voice rose. Esther was taken aback by how serious Dennis was. – Don't ever do that again. Never hurt yourself. Ok?

– Yes, – Esther replied softly, shuddering.

– If you die, what will happen to us?

The girl's eyes became round, like a rabbit's. The meaning of the word "we", said by Dennis, was difficult for her to understand.

– Now we are a family. Shouldn't you be thinking about your family?

Esther tried to understand why she was being scolded, but found a contradiction in Dennis' words:

– Earlier you said that I am not your younger sister.

– Ha, I don't know. I don't understand, – Dennis himself was very confused.

'I'm not going to accept Esther as my sister until I understand what kind of person she is.

But when I saw how she carelessly injured herself, I got angry… I feel guilty,' – Dennis, who had never felt like this before, belatedly realized that he already sympathized with Esther.

'How loud… How could I change my mind so quickly?' – while Dennis was thinking, a mother with a crying baby passed in front of him.

Perhaps the baby let go of her mother's hand and got lost, so now the woman held the baby's hand very tightly, even though she scolded her. Esther couldn't take her eyes off this picture until they disappeared around the bend. Dennis didn't even notice he was looking at her and quickly looked away:

– What is it? Are you jealous?

– No.

– I also have no memories of this, because I don't have a mother, – despite the fact that Dennis said it didn't matter much, he told about himself. Actually, when he was little, he often envied such things. – I'm not a mom, but I'll find you.

– What? I didn't envy them! – suddenly Esther's face flushed brightly, surprised, she looked at the hand that Dennis took.

The boy held his sister's hand tightly, not allowing her to release her hand.

– And I take back the words that I said earlier that I don't consider you my sister.

– So fast? – Esther asked involuntarily, even more surprised.

'I thought it would take a long time, but, so fast…'

– Yeah. Therefore, never say you're going to die again.

Suddenly, the two found themselves in front of a hole in the wall, through which they had secretly escaped.

Releasing Esther's hand, Dennis reached in first and beckoned the girl to follow him:

– Let's go faster, it's late.

Esther stood alone for a while, deciding whether to come back or not.

In fact, while waiting for Dennis, the girl thought that it didn't matter that he would leave her. So, it would even be easier for her to die.

However, Esther was pleased to see that the boy had come back for her. She was happy to hold his hand and return home.

'It's been less than a month since I came here. I still have a lot of time,' – thinking that it was stupid to rush and waste precious time, Esther returned to the Grand Duke's mansion.